What to Draw or Sketch

by James Clark-Brown
(Black Bear County)

Squares-and-Circles

You have this pencil in your hand which is floating above your sketch pad ready for you to start your drawing.

You are uncertain in your mind as you have no idea OF WHAT TO DRAW! Over time, you have collected a ton of spiderman drawings, truckloads of other famous cartoon characters but none of these inspire you to actually draw.

You will mull over certain images you’ve always liked—perhaps circular Mandala images (round shapes) but you think they are too complex unless you have one nearby to copy.

You say to yourself “Let’s get out my compass and just draw random circles within a large circle.”

You notice other shapes start appearing as one form crosses over other forms like “coloring in” shapes—and now you remember your coloring-in books when you had a little fun! So you discover more shapes to fill in!

Why use only a compass to draw circles? Why not use a small box like a matchbox? Now draw small rectangles inside your larger circles, create different shapes within shapes—and now you have and abstract drawing you can start coloring in!

This is a whole new ways to start creating your series of abstract shapes; do not stop with a compass and matchbox, find other things you can draw shapes with!